Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano will preside at the 16th annual Second Chance Brunch at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 20 at the FDNYFireAcademy on Randall’s Island. This special event will reunite 11 people who have survived cardiac arrest and other life-threatening incidents with the FDNY Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics, Firefighters and others who helped save their lives.

This year, the survivors include a 51-year-old doctor from Texas who collapsed in Harlem while running the ING New York City Marathon and was later revived by EMTs, Paramedics and Firefighters. Another survivor benefited from Project Hypothermia, a program in which FDNY ambulances are transporting certain cardiac patients directly to hospitals that can administer chilled intravenous fluids, which help preserve brain function. FDNY hopes it Paramedics will soon begin administering this treatment on Advanced Life Support ambulances.

More than 350,000 people suffer cardiac arrest each year. Research has shown that early defibrillation coupled with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within the first few minutes after sudden cardiac arrest can greatly increase a victim’s chance of survival.

WHO:

Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano, Chief of Department Edward Kilduff, Chief of EMS
Command John Peruggia, Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Prezant of the Office of Medical
Affairs and 11 survivors and their families and the emergency responders who saved them